Background: Coronary computed tomography (CCT) detects coronary obstruction with high sensitivity and might be useful for diagnosis of angina pectoris.
Aim: In this pilot study, we sought to prospectively evaluate the performance of CCT as initial work up and determine the significance of this strategy according to the pretest likelihood of having coronary artery disease (CAD).
Methods: One hundred and eighty patients with chest discomfort and suspected angina were prospectively referred for CCT with a 64-slice CT scan. Invasive coronary angiography (ICA) was performed on the basis of CCT findings (stenosis>50%). Patients were classified into tertiles according to estimated pretest probability of obstructive CAD using the Duke Clinical Score (low, intermediate and high). Strategy failure was defined as unnecessary ICA or major adverse cardiac event (MACE) within 6 months in patients without significant stenosis by CCT.
Results: Pretest probability for CAD was 53 ± 29%. Significant stenosis was detected by CCT in 51 patients; 47 (26%) underwent ICA. Sixteen strategy failures were reported: 15 patients (10%) were referred for ICA that did not confirm significant coronary stenosis and one MACE occurred in a patient without significant stenosis by CCT. Strategy failures were 8% in low-probability, 1.7% in intermediate-probability and 15% in high-probability patients (P=0.03).
Conclusions: CCT as an initial step for angina diagnosis is most effective in patients with an intermediate probability of CAD. In patients with low or high likelihood, it is associated with a high rate of unnecessary ICA but not with adverse events.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acvd.2010.11.007 | DOI Listing |
Port J Card Thorac Vasc Surg
January 2025
Thoracic Surgery Department, Pulido Valente Hospital, CHULN, Lisbon, Portugal.
Introduction: Complete radical resection is crucial for successfully treating thymic carcinomas. However, when the invasion of the great vessels or the heart in Masaoka III and IV stages occurs, the management poses more challenges. The R0 resection often requires neoadjuvant treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRadiol Clin North Am
March 2025
Department of Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-8558, USA; Department of Pediatrics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-8558, USA. Electronic address:
Pulmonary vascular diseases, particularly when accompanied by pulmonary hypertension, are complex disorders often requiring multimodal imaging for diagnosis and monitoring. Echocardiography is the primary screening tool for pulmonary hypertension, while cardiac MR imaging (CMR) is used for more detailed characterization and risk stratification in right ventricular failure. Chest computed tomography (CT) is used to detect vascular anomalies and parenchymal lung diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRadiol Clin North Am
March 2025
Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, M-391 Box 0628, 505 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Pulmonary hypertension is a rare but important clinical problem that presents a sometimes challenging diagnostic dilemma. The diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension relies on a combination of clinical testing and radiologic imaging, with chest computed tomography (CT) often serving as the primary imaging modality for comprehensive evaluation of the chest. Chest CT can be used to evaluate for causes of pulmonary hypertension including chronic lung disease, pulmonary artery obstruction, and congenital heart disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLancet
January 2025
British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; Edinburgh Imaging, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Background: The Scottish Computed Tomography of the Heart (SCOT-HEART) trial demonstrated that management guided by coronary CT angiography (CCTA) improved the diagnosis, management, and outcome of patients with stable chest pain. We aimed to assess whether CCTA-guided care results in sustained long-term improvements in management and outcomes.
Methods: SCOT-HEART was an open-label, multicentre, parallel group trial for which patients were recruited from 12 outpatient cardiology chest pain clinics across Scotland.
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg
January 2025
Division of Cardiology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; Center for Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Objectives: Mixed reality (MixR) is an innovative visualization tool that presents virtual elements in a real-world environment, enabling real-time interaction between the user and the combined digital/physical reality. We aimed to explore the feasibility of MixR in enhancing preoperative planning and intraoperative guidance for the correction of various complex congenital heart defects (CHDs).
Methods: Patients underwent cardiac computed tomography or cardiac magnetic resonance and segmentation of digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) images was performed.
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